I just made my first lot of gelato. Even basic vanilla is so delicious. The texture and flavour are different to icecream. The recipe is so simple, and cheap! The result is stunning. Must try limone next with Sicilian lemons.

Put all the ingredients, with the exception of the vanilla pod, into a saucepan and heat gently stirring all the time. Bring slowly up to boiling point and immediately pour the heated mixture into a large mixing bowl. Scrape the seeds out from the vanilla pod directly into the mixture, stir and leave to cool. When the mixture is cold, transfer it into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

I don't have an ice cream maker, so usually make ice cream with a little booze, that way it doesn't go solid.

You could make this recipe without an ice cream maker, proving you keep taking it out of the freezer to whisk.

It is similar to a recipe I have used before and it is very yummy!

If you have ever been to Blackpool and tasted the Italian recipe ice cream ' Notarianni,' which is divine, you can make this with sterilised milk, sugar, cream and vanilla. I messed about with this recipe years ago to make it for my brother, I got it very similar but never wrote down the amounts needed to make it. But sterilised milk is what makes it taste like Notarianni ice cream.

A bit of useless information, but using sterilised milk in an ice cream recipe is very nice indeed.

The vanilla was delicious. The texture was quit sticky unlike normal icecream. You did not need much to fill you.

I then tried lemon using the same recipe but substituting 4 lemons. I thought the mixture had split but it was fine once frozen. This time the texture was more grainy and closer to a sorbet. Very cleansing.